Finally, past 8am I drove inside the park and first set course for the Sabie Dam & S51 loop. Nothing much was going on there, so I drove north and made a stop at the Ngwenyeni waterhole, where I'd seen an ellie last year. Now, nothing.
Random dry riverbed. Notice the lush vegetation; if it rains, the river will run full for a short time.
Further north at Nandzana, it was the same story. Nothing was stirring. And then, a lot of things started happening in quick sequence. First, I had to break hard because a family of baboons were crossing the road. I watched in amazement as a baby who had gotten a bit ahead of himself was almost attacked by an older male, but then mom came in and swooped him up and placed him under her belly. Naturally, this all happened too fast for me to get my camera ready.
Baboon & baby.
Then I thought I heard the unmistakable sound of ellies tearing down the vegetation, but I couldn't see a thing. I slowly backed up and there they were; about a dozen animals, including a couple of young 'uns. I watched them cross the road and go down into the dry riverbed on the other side and chuckled as two of the teens made an attempt to climb the sandy bank, only to fall flat on their faces.
Ellie stuffing face.
Skeptical ellie baby.
Video of the whole gang.
Even further north, there is a nice lookout point where you look down into a small dam on the otherwise almost dried out river and there were four hippos playing in the water down there. The lookout point has an unpaved parking lot but is not on the regular maps but is somewhere not too far south of the Letaba river crossing.
That crossing was interesting too. I saw several trees that had been uprooted by the recent storms and swept away downstream with the flood. I knew the area had seen torrential rain just a few days before I arrived and here was proof of what it could do.
I then saw a half-submerged cape buffalo. In that heat, I can't say I blamed him. A few minutes later, the day's only Goofy McGoof crossed the road up ahead of me. Finally, a whole herd of cape buffalo were milling about in a field next to the road, some of them even crossing it. I stopped to take some pics of the babies and cows and one who was having his face rearranged by a bird.
Goofy McGoof out walking.
The herd was highly suspicious of me. Can't say I blame 'em.
Buffalo cow w/chic accessory.
I wonder what they're talking about, the two buffalos and the bird?
She's not much prettier without the bird.
Later, almost at Mopani, I came across an ellie herd dozing in the heat (the max temp my car showed was 34C/93F). I got in some close ups of sleeping ellie babies and dey be sho, sho cute. After that, I checked in and unloaded my car of two suitcases and pretty much everything else I didn't strictly speaking need for the afternoon drive.
Notice how they always position themselves to protect the little ones.
A small moment of hilarity arose in the camp shop when I grabbed a can of mosquito killer ominously named "Doom" and asked one of the shop assistants if I could apply it directly to the skin (I had left my glasses in the car and was therefore blind as a bat when it came to reading the tiny letters on the can itself).
Her eyes widened like I had just propositioned her, and then she said, in rather too loud a voice for her not to have thought that I was completely retarded, "That is for a room. You spray on walls!" I nodded thanks and bought the smaller, less violent-looking can she pointed out to me.
The Mopani restaurant was located by the Pioneer Dam. I got a table outside in the shade and as far as I could tell, there was only one other table taken - four elderly Boers were roosting in the corner. This confirmed my impression of the park as almost empty compared to earlier times; there seemed to be few huts taken and the roads had been almost devoid of cars.
The views from the restaurant.
After a tasty gourmet burger for lunch, I set off for an afternoon spent on the Capricorn loop. First, I drove north towards the Tropic of Capricorn, but I hadn't gotten very far when I encountered a large group of ellies.
In addition to the usual number of babies and moms and all that jazz, there was quite a substantial group who were standing very close together, but almost hidden from view by bushes, so I couldn't get in a clear shot.
This one was scratching against a tree with a rare determination.
The large group partially hidden.
On the move.
Still got time for a snack.
I heart ellie babies.
This video shows me crossing the Tropic of Capricorn (hereafter known as T of C).
Then I made a right, onto the T of C loop. It was here, along the S143 I struck gold. First, I got stuck behind an ellie for five minutes. As I patiently followed behind it, I spotted ostriches on either side of the road and then zebras and then wildebeest. Another, even bigger ellie followed. Video here:
I like this pic because it looks like the ostrich is surprised by the zebra sticking its head up the bird's ass. Yes, mentally I'm about seven.
And then I hit Tihongonyeni waterhole and I got the feeling that this must be what Eden was like. All manner of vegetarian animals was stuffing face out on a plain where one might see a predator coming for miles. It wasn't the lamb lying down with the lion; it was more the impala lying down with the wildebeest, but in my head, I heard David Attenborough narrating the scene.
I laughed hard at a zebra foal who was trying out some domination techniques on an older animal, probably its mom. The foal kept putting his head over the adult's neck and keeping her down, until she'd finally had enough and got up abruptly, leaving the young scoundrel hanging with his front feet in the air.
Cocky kid.
Trying to subdue.
Getting annoying.
"Gaaah!"
"Ok, I've learned my lesson."
"Sigh".
"Well, that was educational."
Smaller and cuter foals.
This one was fighting a losing battle with a plant.
Cute.
Even the little wildebeests are cute in their fashion.
I saw this bird way off in the distance and still don't know what it is. It looks like something out of a Donald Duck comic. Could be a big ass Secretary bird I suppose.
Content, despite not having seen a predator all day, I drove back to camp.
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